During COVID, the vitality of the local economy has come into stark focus. Here at EveryLibrary, we believe that library purchasing practices should be values-aligned and mission-informed in order to create a positive impact on the local economy. If your library has a mission to support small businesses, entrepreneurship - and the vitality of your town or neighborhoods - decisions like where to buy and source products, supplies, goods, and services are at the heart of this conversation.
During National Entrepreneurship Week 2021, EveryLibrary is encouraging library boards and staff to consider a new COVID-informed purchasing policy to Buy Local. The question of where your retail and suppliers are located and their relationship to your community is key. Pre-COVID, libraries were often focused on finding the lowest relative price for common goods and services. It was understandable that price sensitivity drove those decisions. However, during the COVID-related economic shutdowns, the best policy about how to use limited taxpayer dollars should be in reinvesting in locally owned and operated retailers, suppliers, and partners. If we continue to let commodity pricing drive library purchasing policies, then we potentially sideline our libraries as a full partner in local economic recovery and revitalization efforts.
EveryLibrary is encouraging library leaders to consider the impact of shifting your purchasing to locally owned businesses. Nationally, over $2.7 billion is spent annually by public libraries on non-salary, non-collection budget lines. Your library can provide programs for entrepreneurs and small business owners all day long, but if there isn't a market for their products or services, then failure is in the forecast. Your library can be at the heart of not only skills-building but true community prosperity by making new, locally-focused choices when you buy. Our hope is that you not only help a new enterprise or existing business get the knowledge, skills, and information they need. Our hope in asking you to take the Buy Local Policy Pledge is that you will also be their customer or client. Your programming offerings help; your purchase decisions matter.
Please add your library to the growing list of organizations that are evaluating a new locally-relevant and COVID-informed approach to their purchasing policies in 2021. When you sign the Pledge, EveryLibrary will send you a Buy Local Policy Guide for your Board and Staff that includes:
- Information and insights on what a Buy Local policy should do
- A rubric for estimating the economic impact of a Buy Local policy
- Examples of 'Buy Local' Board Resolution and town/city/county Ordinances
- A framework for day-to-day implementation and accountability
- Insights into new partnerships for economic recovery and growth
Your decision to create and implement a BuyLocal policy will create a "multiplier effect" where small businesses and start-ups in the local community have a stable regular customer in the library, and the library will also see a direct benefit through a rapidly improving tax base. Whether your library is an independent district where your board can set their own policy or is a part of a town, city, or county and needs to work with your municipal leaders to set the path, this is an important and high-impact economic decision. EveryLibrary's "Buy Local Policy Guide" will help you make the case and manage for success.
Take the Pledge now to get started on this important path to energize the local economic recovery.